Divine Liturgy
Why does Sunday morning seem to include more than one service?
Sunday morning seems to include more than one service because it often does. The Church prepares for the Eucharist through morning prayer and incense, then enters the Eucharistic Liturgy itself. The services are related, so they are usually experienced as one continuous offering of prayer.
The Southern Diocese rites curriculum names this sequence as Raising of Morning Incense, Offering of the Lamb, Liturgy of the Word, and Liturgy of the Believers. Those names are not extra programs placed beside the Liturgy. They are movements of the Church toward Holy Communion.
Why Preparation Comes First
The Eucharist is approached with prayer, repentance, Scripture, and thanksgiving. Matins and the Raising of Incense help the Church stand before God before the gifts are offered. They also let the people pray for the peace of the Church, the fathers, the assemblies, the sick, travelers, and the needs of the world.
Let my prayer be set before You as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
How The Morning Fits Together
If you arrive during Matins or incense, you have not missed the "real" service in a crude sense, but the Church is already praying. If you arrive during the readings, the Church is already listening to Scripture. If you arrive during the Eucharistic prayers, the service has moved into its most solemn portion.
A practical first step is to come early enough to see the transition from preparation into the Liturgy. That makes the whole morning easier to understand.
- Coptic Rites (1): Raising of Incense, Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States. Teaching slides on incense, prayer, liturgical order, and reverent participation.
- Coptic Liturgies, Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States. Overview of the Divine Liturgy, the three Coptic liturgies, and the principal parts of the Eucharistic service.
- Coptic Rites (3): Liturgy of the Word, Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States. Teaching slides on the Pauline, Catholic Epistle, Praxis, Synaxarium, Gospel litany, Creed, and related rites.
- Coptic Rites (4): Liturgy of the Believers, Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States. Teaching slides on the Anaphora, institution narrative, invocation of the Holy Spirit, consecration, litanies, and Communion.
Eucharist: A Greek word meaning thanksgiving. In Orthodox worship it names the sacrament in which bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ.
Incense: Fragrant offering used in worship as a biblical sign of prayer rising before God, especially around the altar, Gospel, icons, clergy, and faithful.
Lamb: The holy bread selected during the Offering of the Lamb, named in relation to Christ the Lamb of God who gives Himself for the life of the world.
Holy Communion: The faithful receiving the true Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist, after baptismal life, repentance, confession, fasting, reconciliation, and pastoral preparation.
Matins: The morning prayer service, often joined to the Raising of Incense before the Divine Liturgy on Sunday morning.
Raising of Incense: A Coptic service of psalms, doxologies, litanies, absolutions, and incense, commonly prayed in Vespers and Matins.